The freighter carrying the drug from South America was destined for the northern city of Tangier.

The Cape Verdean prosecutor charged 11 Russian citizens arrested in January in a freighter in the port of Praia with almost ten tons of cocaine on board accused of aggravated narcotics trafficking and criminal association crimes.

According to a statement issued today by the Cape Verde Attorney General’s Office (PGR), concerned “operation ESER”, which on January 31 led to the largest drug seizure in the country, detected on a flag cargo ship of the Panama (named “ESER”) which docked at the port of Praia carrying 9.57 tonnes of “high purity” cocaine, incinerated by the authorities days later.

According to the statement, after completing all due diligence, the Public Prosecution Service completed  he investigation on July 29, filing a complaint and requesting judgment in a joint proceeding and with the intervention of the Collective Court.

The 11 people arrested since January and “who, at the time of the facts, were serving on the ship” are charged. They are “strongly indicted” of the commission of a drug trafficking offense aggravated by material co-authoring and royal competition with a crime of membership of the criminal association.

It was also requested that all objects, goods and products seized as part of the operation be declared as “lost to the State”, as soon as the 100-meter-long freighter “ESER” with a total weight of 3,800 tonnes and mobile phones, laptops, satellite telephones and GPS equipment, “because they were used to commit the crime in question”.